Name: Bertrand de Soultrait
Title: Retail Broker
Company: SCG Retail, a division of The Shopping Center Group
Location: 1841 Broadway, Manhattan, NY
Birthplace: October 1984, Rouen, France
Family: 2 brothers, 1 sister
College: Tried it, opted out
First job outside of real estate: Equestrian Saddle salesman and valet parking.
First job in real estate or allied field: Cofounded a retail chain and fashion line of clothing with my brother: Vicomte A (still run by my brother:30 corporate stores/600 multibranded stores).
What do you do now and what are you planning for the future? 85% of my business is to represent European Cos. coming to the U.S. to open retail stores. I travel to Paris once a month to pitch new fashion retailers for the N.Y. market, I also attend the MAPIC trade show in Cannes, south of France once a year to meet retailers and expand my network. I have established a network of European brokers (Germany, Spain and France) who I work with more and more, they refer me their clients wanting to open in the U.S. and N.Y.C. I do the same on my side; we are now working on few stores for "Le Pain Quotidien" in Paris via my French connections there.
Hobbies: Playing Polo and Fox hunting.
Favorite book: "The Art of the Deal" by Donald Trump
Favorite movie: "Blow" with Johnny Depp
Keys to success: Tenacity, productivity and most of all, "having a vision or at least a good idea of where I am going."
Person(s) you most admire (outside of family): Anyone but our new French President
If you had to choose another vocation, what would it be? A gentleman farmer in the French countryside. Tags: